Puddin’s First Day

Well, she’s here and if she isn’t the cutest thing you have ever seen, I will just eat my hat!

She arrived at about 9:30 and I have to say I am impressed with the way the breeder did things. The process of registering your KUSA (South Africa’s answer to the AKC) puppy is very different from the way AKC pups are registered. In America, the breeder registers the litter, receives individual slips from the AKC for the pups, which are then given to the buyer: no intelligent buyer would walk away with a pup without the registration slip. Here in South Africa, it is the breeder who does all of the registration…which means the breeder must submit names for the pups…and the buyer has to wait for KUSA to issue the paperwork---and trust that the seller is legitimate. This breeder provided me with photocopies of the pedigrees of both parents and copies of both his and his wife’s KUSA membership cards. We also got a health book from the vet with her immunization and worming information, and she was microchipped…all very professionally handled.

Puddin’ hasn’t made a sound all day…not even a squeak. But she’s sampled her bowls, explored her crate and her sleeping basket, played with her toys, and used her puddle pad.

She has discovered that it is warm under my Tshirt and the fuzzy toy dog makes a pretty good substitute for another dog to snuggle up to. One of the first things she learned was that wandering off the waterproof pad on Mama and Papa’s bed was how you found a place to piddle…on the duvet, of course!

She’s tiny and like all young babies, she sleeps a lot. She had a busy day, as we had to visit a couple of pet stores to find a harness tiny enough for her, and we took her to our favourite restaurant which, because she was in her basket and covered up, allowed up to bring her in. Not that it did any good…within ten minutes both the manager and the owner had peeked into the basket and swooned over her cuteness and then she was out and being cuddled and fussed over.

She likes to play with fingers, wags her little (undocked) tail enthusiastically and is quickly learning the “kisses” command! I’ll post more pics as soon as I get batteries for my camera…Murphy’s law being what it is, today is the day they had to go dead!

How glad am I that I spent the last couple of weeks at the sewing machine and with a crochet hook in my hand? The basket is perfect, with a liner to keep her from chewing the wicker and fleece blankets to keep away the chill of the air conditioning. The crocheted blanket made a good basket cover when carrying her out in the hot South African summer sun…it provided both shade and ventilation. The fitted pad and cover for the crate have given her a comfy “cave” that she already likes. The time and effort was well spent…and it was cheap since I used an old cotton window scarf (about 5 yards of fabric) for the material and a old mattress pad for the innards of the basket and crate pad. I already had the pink yarn, left over from a previous project…all I had to do was buy a couple of inexpensive fleece throws, cut them to size, and stitch the edges…about $10 worth or materials total, since I already had the dog crate and the wicker basket!

So enjoy the pics and please forgive me if, for the next few weeks, I sound like a besotted fool…having this puppy in the house feels just like have a brand new baby!

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